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Clinical potential of electroporation for gene therapy and DNA vaccine delivery

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Pages 295-310 | Received 29 Sep 2015, Accepted 05 Nov 2015, Published online: 19 Dec 2015

Bibliography

Papers of special note have been highlighted as 

• of interest

•• of considerable interest

  • Kaestner L, Scholz A, Lipp P. Conceptual and technical aspects of transfection and gene delivery. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2015;25(6):1171–1176.
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  • Yarmush ML, Golberg A, Sersa G, et al. Electroporation-based technologies for medicine: principles, applications, and challenges. Annu Rev Biomed Eng. 2014;16:295–320.

• This book gives a very complete overview of all electroporation (EP)-based technologies in clinic.

  • Denet AR, Vanbever R, Preat V. Skin electroporation for transdermal and topical delivery. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2004;56(5):659–674.
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  • Marszalek P, Liu DS, Tsong TY. Schwan equation and transmembrane potential induced by alternating electric field. Biophys J. 1990;58(4):1053–1058.

• First study to indicate that the Schwan equation may be used to describe the transmembrane potential of a living cell generated by an oscillating electric field.

  • Kotnik T, Pucihar G, Miklavcic D. Induced transmembrane voltage and its correlation with electroporation-mediated molecular transport. J Membr Biol. 2010;236(1):3–13.
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•• The book was edited by experts and pioneers in the field of electroporation and details experimental findings, biophysical theories and application in biomedical research of EP.

  • Kotnik T, Frey W, Sack M, et al. Electroporation-based applications in biotechnology. Trends Biotechnol. 2015;33(8):480–488.
  • Miklavcic D, Beravs K, Semrov D, et al. The importance of electric field distribution for effective in vivo electroporation of tissues. Biophys J. 1998;74(5):2152–2158.
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  • Bolhassani A, Khavari A. Orafa Z electroporation – advantages and drawbacks for delivery of drug, gene and vaccine. In: Sezer AD, editor. Nanotechnology in drug delivery. Rijeka: InTech; 2014.

• This is an excellent overview about the history of EP, its mechanism and its applications for drug and vaccine delivery and for gene therapy.

  • Gehl J. Gene electrotransfer in clinical trials. Methods Mol Biol. 2014;1121:241–246.
  • Heller LC, Heller R. In vivo electroporation for gene therapy. Human Gene Therapy. 2006;17(9):890–897.
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  • Babiuk S, Baca-Estrada ME, Foldvari M, et al. Increased gene expression and inflammatory cell infiltration caused by electroporation are both important for improving the efficacy of DNA vaccines. J Biotechnol. 2004;110(1):1–10.
  • Chiarella P, Massi E, De Robertis M, et al. Electroporation of skeletal muscle induces danger signal release and antigen-presenting cell recruitment independently of DNA vaccine administration. Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2008;8(11):1645–1657.
  • Weaver JC. Electroporation theory Concepts and mechanisms. Methods Mol Biol. 1995;55:3–28.
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  • Staal L, Gilbert R. Generators and applicators: equipment for electroporation. In: Kee ST, Gehl J, Lee EW, editors. Clinical aspects of electroporation. New York (NY): Springer; 2011. p. 45–65.

•• The book gives an overview of the basic principles behind the development of EP and its introduction into clinical practice.

  • Heller R, Heller LC. Gene electrotransfer clinical trials. Adv Genet. 2015;89:235–262.
  • El-Kamary SS, Billington M, Deitz S, et al. Safety and Tolerability of the Easy Vax™ Clinical Epidermal Electroporation System in Healthy Adults. Mol Ther. 2012;20(1):214–220.
  • Spanggaard I, Snoj M, Cavalcanti A, et al. Gene electrotransfer of plasmid antiangiogenic metargidin peptide (AMEP) in disseminated melanoma: safety and efficacy results of a phase I first-in-man study. Hum Gene Ther Clin Dev. 2013;24(3):99–107.

• The first report about the use of pAMEP, an antiangiogenic plasmid, in clinical trial for treating cutaneous melanoma.

  • Eriksson F, Tötterman T, Maltais A-K, et al. DNA vaccine coding for the rhesus prostate specific antigen delivered by intradermal electroporation in patients with relapsed prostate cancer. Vaccine. 2013;31(37):3843–3848.
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• The first published clinical study about the tolerability of CELLECTRA, the second most used EP device in clinical trials.

  • Vasan S, Hurley A, Schlesinger SJ, et al. In vivo electroporation enhances the immunogenicity of an HIV-1 DNA vaccine candidate in healthy volunteers. PLoS One 2011;6(5):e19252.

• Shows the outcomes of the first clinical trial using the TriGrid delivery system, which is nowadays the most used EP device in clinical trials.

  • Yuan J, Ku GY, Adamow M, et al. Immunologic responses to xenogeneic tyrosinase DNA vaccine administered by electroporation in patients with malignant melanoma. J Immunother Cancer. 2013;1:20–20.
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